Carzy Zarx’s PC Gaming Emporium - Catch Up on All the Latest PC Gaming Related News

[JEMC]

The second, and very long, part of the Monday news:

Get the full lowdown on Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin in its latest trailer
https://www.pcgamer.com/get-the-full-lowdown-on-warhammer-age-of-sigmar-realms-of-ruin-in-its-latest-trailer/
I love a trailer that properly communicates what a game offers, and the latest video of Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin is a fine example of the form. In less than four minutes, it succinctly yet precisely explains all of the upcoming RTS' major features, leaving me with a far better idea of what to expect when it launches in two month's time.

Creator of The Wolf Among Us' noir fantasy universe declares it's now in the public domain
https://www.pcgamer.com/creator-of-the-wolf-among-us-noir-fantasy-universe-declares-its-now-in-the-public-domain/
Well this doesn't happen very often. Bill Willingham, creator of the Fablesuniverse which serves as the setting for Telltale's fondly remembered adventure game The Wolf Among Us, has placed the property in the public domain.

Iconic mechs return as Mechwarrior 5: Clans invites you to be the bad guys
https://www.pcgamer.com/iconic-mechs-return-as-mechwarrior-5-clans-invites-you-to-be-the-bad-guys/
True to the tease earlier this year, a new MechWarrior game is coming in 2024: MechWarrior 5: Clans will return the sci-fi universe of huge stompy robots to perhaps its most iconic period, the invasion of the honor-bound warriors of the technologically advanced Clans. The announcement of the new game is accompanied by a teaser trailer as a hulking, iconic MadCat mech drops into a verdant jungle before cutting away to a reference to the classic MechWarrior 2 box art.

The next League spinoff is a farming sim from the Graveyard Keeper devs
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-next-league-spinoff-is-a-farming-sim-from-the-graveyard-keeper-devs/
The wildly unpredictable spinoff publishers over at Riot Forge have got something new for you—Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story will be a crafting RPG inspired by games like Stardew Valley that stars the adorable fluffballs known as the Yordles, set in their hometown of Bandle City. It'll be developed by Lazy Bear, the studio behind Graveyard Keeper and Punch Club, with adorably colorful pixel art to match.

Helldivers 2 has a cool new gameplay trailer, but it's delayed to 2024
https://www.pcgamer.com/helldivers-2-has-a-cool-new-gameplay-trailer-but-its-delayed-to-2024/
Upcoming third-person tactical shooter Helldivers 2, where you friendly fire your buddies and also spread managed democracy for Super Earth, will release on February 8, 2024. That's a short hop back from its previous 2023 release date before we dive back into the tongue-in-cheek cooperative combat that the original Helldivers established.

Spider-Man 2's open world will be twice as big as the first games
https://www.pcgamer.com/spider-man-2s-open-world-will-be-twice-as-big-as-the-first-games/
Insomniac Games has let slip a new trailer for Marvel's Spider-Man 2 where they detail new gameplay changes show off a greatly expanded map for the sequel. The new map is significantly larger, presumably to accommodate all the new powers and to make room for two Spider-heroes swinging about at once.

If you like inventory grids they've made an action roguelike specifically for you
https://www.pcgamer.com/if-you-like-inventory-grids-theyve-made-an-action-roguelike-specifically-for-you/
Roguelike God of Weapons is for you if you've got some kind of deep-seated need only satisfied by the inventory management that you learned to love way back in Diablo 1 and 2. The action roguelike, released just this week, pits you against ever-escalating swarms of monsters as you climb the levels of a tower.

Out of the blue, seven-year-old FPS Titanfall 2 has fully working multiplayer again
https://www.pcgamer.com/out-of-the-blue-seven-year-old-fps-titanfall-2-has-fully-working-multiplayer-again/
Beloved robot friend simulator and first-person shooter Titanfall 2 has had a matchmaking problem for years. Even after its previous server issues were fixed, players would still be disconnected if they had to queue for any length of time. And, given that Titanfall 2 came out in 2016, it's pretty likely you'd be waiting in that lobby a while.
Surprisingly, an official update has appeared out of nowhere and got it working again. Players are now flooding back, with Titanfall 2 hitting a peak player count of 22,604 in the last 24 hours. What's more, the featured playlist rotation has started being updated again, and weapon loadouts in the 1v1 coliseum mode have changed.

Watch a Baldur's Gate 3 character break right through the fourth wall like the Kool-Aid Man
https://www.pcgamer.com/one-baldurs-gate-3-character-can-break-the-fourth-wall-like-the-goddamn-kool-aid-man/
There are a lot of easter eggs and oddities in Baldur's Gate 3 and it seems like there's plenty left to uncover yet. For instance, one dataminer has just managed to trigger a dialogue scene in which bestest barbarian Karlach becomes aware she's a character in a game and looks right through the screen into your soul.

Here's a puzzle game about a small dog with a very long stick
https://www.pcgamer.com/heres-a-puzzle-game-about-a-small-dog-with-a-very-long-stick/
Roberto is a dog. Roberto loves to carry around very long sticks, canes, poles, pipes, and other such extended, often cylindrical objects. This is Roberto's calling in life.
Your job, in Stick to the Plan, is to help Roberto get his sticks from one point to another. It's an adorably simple puzzle game from indie dev Dead Pixel Tales, and it focuses on funny new solutions to puzzles and weird twists rather than brain-burning difficulty. It's what I'd call a relaxing puzzle game, one that delights you rather than frustrates you.

I am mesmerized by the impeccable vibes of this trippy twin-stick shooter
https://www.pcgamer.com/i-am-mesmerized-by-the-impeccable-vibes-of-this-trippy-twin-stick-shooter/
"A celestial flower blooms, as a vicious wasp protects. Complete their entwined symbiotic life cycle in a realm crawling with hunger," reads the simple description for Nidus, an upcoming twin-stick shooter from indie developer Caleb Wood.

Enjoy minimalist stealth-action, Splinter Cell and MGS style, in No Sun to Worship
https://www.pcgamer.com/enjoy-minimalist-stealth-action-splinter-cell-and-mgs-style-in-no-sun-to-worship/
Indie dev Antonio Freyre is at it again making stealth games, and has released the delightful No Sun to Worship, to the world. In this little stealth indie things have very clearly gone bad for humankind, and you're a person charged with making it worse for whoever's employing you one sabotage, murder, and assassination at a time.

Brazen Blaze is a VR Smash Bros. where you can punch people into space
https://www.pcgamer.com/brazen-blaze-is-a-vr-smash-bros-where-you-can-punch-people-into-space/
VR studio MyDearest is best known for branching narrative games like Tokyo Chronos and Altdeus. Its next game is a bit of a departure then, being a three-on-three multiplayer punchyshoot where you can use super-gauntlets to send people into orbit.

Update: 'Frankengun' Destiny glitch has been patched, hope you had your fun
https://www.pcgamer.com/an-unprecedented-destiny-glitch-is-letting-players-craft-game-breaking-frankenguns-like-machine-gun-grenade-launchers-and-bungie-says-lets-all-have-some-fun/
It's always a challenge managing a meticulously crafted MMO sandbox, but Destiny 2's eternal struggle for a meta no one will whine about has been absolutely turned on its head by yesterday's discovery of Frankenguns. Thanks to a crafting glitch, players have been churning out ungodly firearm chimeras to melt raid bosses in seconds. Bungie's taken it in stride, acknowledging the absurd fun of it all, but is also quickly rolling out a fix to bring all those wacky guns to heel.
Update: It was fun while it lasted, but Destiny 2's assault rifles and grenade launchers won't be blasting away like shotguns any more. A hotfix—the first of several—has disabled a selection of frames and perks on Exotic and Legendary crafted weapons, including "Osteo Striga, Revision Zero, Dead Man's Tale, Dead Messenger, Vexcalibur, and all three Exotic class glaives" Bungie has announced.

Marvel's Avengers goes on sale one last time before being delisted forever
https://www.pcgamer.com/marvels-avengers-goes-on-sale-one-last-time-before-being-delisted-forever/
At the start of the year, Crystal Dynamics announced that Marvel's Avengers would be delisted. Following a release that publisher Square Enix called "disappointing", the live-service spandex-em-up was put on life support, with a final update in March and a subsequent patch in April. As of September 30 it won't be available to buy on digital storefronts, but until then it's on sale on Steam for 90% off.

My new greatest fear is meeting the two-faced monster from this survival horror game that combines retro pixel art with FMV
https://www.pcgamer.com/my-new-greatest-fear-is-meeting-the-two-faced-monster-from-this-survival-horror-game-that-combines-retro-pixel-art-with-fmv/
Once thought far too cheesy to bring with us into the modern gaming era, FMV has been enjoying a bit of a renaissance over the last decade, thanks to games like Her Story and Alan Wake. If you're not familiar, it stands for full-motion video—in other words, it's when live-action filmed sequences are used in videogames. Also, it turns out it can be intensely creepy.
Even in this new age of FMV appreciation, upcoming survival horror game Tenebris Somnia uses it in an unusual way. As a woman investigating a house plagued by terrors, you explore a pixel art world reminiscent of classic point-and-click adventure games—Day of the Tentacle is what it brings to mind, for me. Colourful and a little cartoony, it doesn't strike too creepy a tone—that is, until the game cuts to an FMV sequence for a closer look at a grisly scene, or the introduction of a disturbingly deformed monster.

Game that raised over $1.5 million on Kickstarter defends its use of AI art: 'It's certainly going to hurt people [but] I don’t think this is going to go back in the bag'
https://www.pcgamer.com/game-that-raised-over-dollar15-million-on-kickstarter-defends-its-use-of-ai-art-its-certainly-going-to-hurt-people-but-i-dont-think-this-is-going-to-go-back-in-the-bag/
It's been less than two months since Kickstarter updated and outlined its policy on AI art, and it's already not going well.
(...)
The Kickstarter for "More Terraforming Mars! " promises an expansion to FryxGames's 2016 board game, which grew so popular as to receive a video game adaptation. At the time of writing, the base game's still ranked 6th on BoardGameGeek, below games like Ark Nova and Gloomhaven.
The Kickstarter has gathered over $1.5 million from over 13,000 backers, but it only answers the demands of Kickstarter's Consent & Credit policy with a bit of a shrug: "We were not involved in the development of any of the AI tools used in this project, we have ourselves neither provided works nor asked for consent for any works used to produce AI-generated content." It also mentions that it used "MidJourney, Fotor, and the Adobe Suite of products". MidJourney is one of the AI programs explicitly mentioned in the above lawsuit, so alarm bells are already ringing.

Premier League superstar 'shocked' about how poorly EA Sports FC rates his abilities
https://www.pcgamer.com/premier-league-superstar-shocked-about-how-poorly-ea-sports-fc-rates-his-abilities/
Manchester United and England striker Marcus Rashford was recently doing some press duties with the Premier League, during which the footballer was given a sneak peek at the EA Sports FC 24 version of Marcus Rashford. The player's form vastly improved in the 2022/23 season, with 30 goals in all competitions, and this is reflected in some improved ratings on the EAFC 24 card (the new version of FIFA Ultimate Team) over the FIFA 23 version. But not, apparently enough for Rashford.
The Rashford card's overall rating has improved from an 83 in FIFA 23 to an 85 in EAFC 24. But when taken through how the game breaks down his skills, Rashford was unpleasantly surprised at points.
>> It's a stupid article, but it's so silly that it made me smile.